Why I'm supporting 'No More Page 3'

I can't believe you haven't come across this, but just in case you haven't, it's a pressure group asking (and asking very nicely - there's no ranting, or unpleasantness) the Sun newspaper to stop showing pictures of women wearing nothing but a thong on page 3 of their newspaper. You can find the petition here. And there are websites and merchandise if you're really keen.

(For those of you outside the UK, you may wonder what all this is about. For decades it has been acceptable to print these pictures, in a national newspaper, where everyone can see them. It is part of the Sun brand, if you like. I know, ridiculous, isn't it?)

It seems so blatantly obvious that this is crazy, but, just in case there's anyone who hasn't signed the petition, or it has somehow passed them by, here are my thoughts:

What message are we giving our daughters if their fathers ogle these pictures over the breakfast table? What does this say about their wives and mothers?

At a time when we are encouraging women to be scientists, and engineers, or artists, or writers - here is the Sun reminding us that, before we are any of those things, we have breasts. If we've a chest like that, then we don't need brains. (Or even ideas, or feelings, or anything that makes us individual.)

It's tough for men, negotiating a world in which women are discovering new ways of being. Yet here is the Sun, hanging onto the idea that women are nothing but a body. Is it surprising that some still continue to treat us as commodities when that idea is perpetuated in a national newspaper?

There must be a million other reasons, I'm sure you can think of some.

And, for anyone who needs reminding that women are more than a set of knockers, here is Nina Simone to remind us how wonderful, and complete, we really are:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5jI9I03q8E